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Emma N's Picks

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I Eat Poop.: A Dung Beetle Story By Mark Pett, Mark Pett (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Mark Pett, Mark Pett (Illustrator)
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250785633
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Roaring Brook Press - October 26th, 2021

I was doubled over with laughter before finishing I Eat Poop. It is the story of a dung beetle who is ashamed to admit, to his friends and classmates, that not only does he eat poop, but he loves it—it's in his genes! When he finally confesses this secret he is met—as he feared—with laughter and teasing, until another bug pipes up with a strange revelation of their own, and another and another. Turns out all his classmates have... unique appetites. This book has a dark humor that will appeal to children and adults alike; it's this humor, coupled with its sweet message (differences make us special!) and reference to fascinating science facts that makes this book a must-read.  -Emma N.


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Thistlefoot: A Novel By GennaRose Nethercott Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780593468838
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Anchor - September 13th, 2022

The story of a brother and sister, estranged, but brought together by a bequeathment: a house on chicken legs. Thistlefoot is a rollicking road trip story, as entertaining as a vaudeville show. But a house like Thistlefoot is not without its burdens. Nethercott's tale demands its readers reckon with the past, reminds us that history has a tendency to repeat itself, and asks us to consider the stories we tell, the memories we hold tight to.  -Emma N.


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In the Dream House: A Memoir By Carmen Maria Machado Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644450383
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Graywolf Press - December 1st, 2020

I devoured In the Dream House like a child lost in the woods come upon a candy cottage; I read greedily and did not heed the witch. Using a trove of tropes to frame each chapter—dream house as haunted mansion, dream house as star-crossed lovers— Machado examines domestic abuse from all angles, giving voice and sharp edges to a reality often swept under the rug. As she did in Her Body and Other Parties, Machado exhibits her skill at manipulating form, at weaving a story that both astonishes and terrifies. But this time the story is her life, the hall of mirrors her home, the monster her partner.   -Emma N.


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My Favorite Thing Is Monsters By Emil Ferris Cover Image
$39.99
ISBN: 9781606999592
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Fantagraphics - February 14th, 2017

Karen Reyes is a precocious ten year-old growing up in 1960s Chicago. Her mother is sick, her brother is dodging the draft, and their upstairs neighbor—an enigmatic Holocaust survivor named Anka—was just murdered. As Karen steeps herself in the past and tries to solve Anka’s murder (think Harriet the Spy meets Maus) the life she’s been avoiding continues to unravel. Using B-movie horror and monster pulp magazine imagery, Karen records everything in her spiral-bound notebook, weaving an unnerving and engrossing tale with illustrations both gorgeous and grotesque. You’ll want to pore over these pages to ensure you don’t miss a thing.   -Emma N.


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Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest By Phoebe Wahl Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780735264892
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Tundra Books - September 21st, 2021

An utterly charming picture book that explores a year in the forest in four chapters (to match the four seasons), from the perspective of Little Witch Hazel. She goes on a myriad of adventures (including raising an owl; exploring a mysterious, haunting noise; and returning library books), but she spends most of her time helping and caring for her friends. This cozy picture book is perfect for all seasons and all ages.   -Emma N.


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Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give By Ada Calhoun Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9780393356007
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - June 5th, 2018

This lovely little book is full of advice for couples, engaged, married, or otherwise; my favorite is printed right on the cover: "The way you stay married is simple: don't get divorced." Calhoun may think her toasts inappropriate to give, but I found them frankly sincere in their acknowledgement of the inescapable fallibility of humans. Relationships are hard! Sometimes you'll want to throw things. To begin a marriage/ partnership with this in mind, I think, will make those moments easier to bear, to know it doesn't mean the relationship is wrong or broken. Would recommend to anyone preparing to walk down an aisle.  - Emma N.


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Nightbitch: A Novel By Rachel Yoder Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780593312148
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Anchor - July 5th, 2022

Nightbitch, a fable of motherhood and metamorphosis, is a primal scream of a novel. Motherhood is often seen, even idealized, as a sublimation of self; Nightbitch reminds us that mothers are individuals, capable of fierce love for their children and anguish for the changes motherhood has wrought on their lives. Yoder normalizes the riot of emotions endemic in motherhood with a howl that is equal parts joyful and disconsolate.  -Emma N.


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The View Was Exhausting By Mikaella Clements, Onjuli Datta Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781538734919
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Grand Central Publishing - May 17th, 2022

The View Was Exhausting feels, at first, like the equivalent of bringing a copy of Us Weekly to the beach; set in a variety of exotic locales, it focuses on the on-again, off-again relationship between film star Whitman ("Win") Tagore and playboy Leo Milanowski. Except the whole relationship is a farce, a PR ploy whipped out anytime Win needs help maintaining her public persona—which, as a woman of color working in Hollywood and walking a tightrope of contradicting expectations, is often. Come for the romance that's as stable as a pyramid of champagne glasses, stay for the incisive commentary on race, privilege, and celebrity.  -Emma N.


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Olga Dies Dreaming: A Novel By Xochitl Gonzalez Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781250786173
Availability: Usually Available in 2-10 Business Days
Published: Flatiron Books - January 4th, 2022

A compelling story of two siblings—one a politician, the other a high-end wedding planner—struggling under the expectations of society, their (absent) revolutionary mother, and their past selves. Through these singular characters, Olga Dies Dreaming grapples with broader issues of class, colonialism, capitalism, and cronyism. This book, which I enjoyed so much I read it over a single weekend, will be as comfortable on a beach blanket as on a college syllabus — it engrosses and educates in equal measure. And it made me laugh out loud. - Emma N.


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Women Talking By Miriam Toews Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781635574340
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - March 3rd, 2020

How do you choose between faith and safety? How do you protect yourself from the only world you’ve ever known? The Mennonite women of Molotschna attempt to answer these questions after their lives are torn asunder by repeated assault. But, while the situation is disturbing, the conversation is far from hopeless. These women—incredibly resilient, keenly intelligent—will remind you of the simple power of women talking.


Staff Pick Badge
The Corner That Held Them By Sylvia Townsend Warner, Claire Harman (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Sylvia Townsend Warner, Claire Harman (Introduction by)
$18.95
ISBN: 9781681373874
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: NYRB Classics - September 10th, 2019

You may not expect a winding, plotless novel about a medieval nunnery to be utterly engrossing, but it is. Irreverent and amusing, Townsend Warner’s nuns are political, petty, and rather lacking in piety.


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Fire Logic: An Elemental Logic Novel By Laurie J. Marks Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781618730886
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Small Beer Press - January 29th, 2019

The first book in an epic quartet about a small group of friends attempting to end a twenty-year war. The best way I can describe this series is engulfing. It is a rain-soaked field as often as it is a warm hearth. It will enflame, it will soothe. It is one of those books that is both dark—concerning war, a land under siege, a society demolished—and full of hope—showing a community reimagined and rebuilt. It insists its characters question their beliefs, their driving forces, and do what’s right no matter how difficult. Also, it’s perfect for fans of Avatar the Last Airbender.


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How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy By Jenny Odell Cover Image
$18.95
ISBN: 9781612198552
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Melville House - December 29th, 2020

Our culture’s increasing obsession with productivity and efficiency is driving us slowly insane. How to Do Nothing proposes a cure: take back control of your attention, practice sustainability, view maintenance as progress. Odell has reframed the way I see the world and my place in it; more importantly, she has made me feel equipped for whatever comes next.


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Giant Days Vol. 1 By John Allison, Lissa Treiman (Illustrator), Whitney Cogar Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9781608867899
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: BOOM! Box - December 1st, 2015

This comic is like your favorite sitcom where nothing much happens but you find yourself constantly rewatching and laughing your head off. Giant Days is a hilarious, disturbingly accurate depiction of university life and post-adolescence, but enjoyable no matter how far (or close) you are to your school years.


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HausMagick: Transform Your Home with Witchcraft By Erica Feldmann Cover Image
$25.99
ISBN: 9780062906151
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: HarperOne - February 12th, 2019

A guide to bringing magic into the home that is as beautiful as it is useful. Feldman, a witch and owner of the Salem, MA shop HausWitch, offers pages of suggestions for bringing comfort, protection, and balance to your home.


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Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America By Margot Adler Cover Image
$23.00
ISBN: 9780143038191
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Penguin Books - October 3rd, 2006

A fascinating anthropological study on Neo-Pagans, Wiccans, and witches. Written in the 70s, revised in ‘06, and still surprisingly relevant and revealing. If you’re drawn to paganism or looking for a better understanding of the movement, this is a great place to begin.


Staff Pick Badge
Magic for Beginners: Stories By Kelly Link, Shelley Jackson (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kelly Link, Shelley Jackson (Illustrator)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780812986518
Availability: On Our Shelves Now (call to confirm availability)
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - July 1st, 2014

Eschewing genre or classification, these stories hop from gothic horror to sci-fi to magical realism in a swirling, extraordinary feat of invention. Link’s talent is awesome—by the original definition—inspiring both great trepidation and admiration. Once you read this, you’ll want to read every story Link has ever written.


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